A fire that quickly tore through an apartment block in the capital's Gulshan Sunday evening was brought under control after four hours, the authorities said.

A man, aged around 30, was killed after the deadly fire engulfed the multistorey building.

He was declared dead at 10:25pm after being rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Inspector Bachchu Mia, in-charge of the hospital's police outpost, said.

"Three people were taken to the hospital with burn injuries from the building, which got engulfed in huge flames. Also, 22 people – nine men, 12 women, and one child – have been rescued so far," Anwarul Islam, warehouse inspector of the Fire Service and Civil Defence headquarters media cell, said.

"The fire broke out on the seventh floor of a 12-storey building in Gulshan-2 at 6:59pm. However, the reasons for the fire mishap and the extent of damage could not immediately be confirmed," he added.

In the visuals emerging from the site, huge flames coupled with thick clouds of black smoke were seen billowing out of the building.

The number of firefighting units responding to the blaze grew to 19, and the responders tried valiantly to tame the flames, Anwarul said.

Later, the army and air force also joined the rescue operation.